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Super Tuesday is Underway

By Virginia Villa

This year’s election cycle has finally reached Super Tuesday, an important day in every election year when a large number of states hold primary elections on the same day. Today, twelve states and one U.S. territory are holding primary elections, with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton expected to come out as the victors for each party. Already, media outlets, including CNN, are projecting that Donald Trump has won the states of Virginia and Georgia. Current projections show Clinton winning Georgia and Virginia, and Sanders winning his home state of Vermont. Both Clinton and Trump currently hold wide leads over their competitors. Donald Trump now holds 82 delegate votes while Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio hold a far off second and third place with 17 votes and 16 votes, respectively. John Kasich holds six votes, and Ben Carson holds only five. Clinton currently has 199 votes and Sanders has 122.

The Clinton campaign is hoping to widen Hillary’s lead over Sanders today. Until recently, Sanders held the most popular support of the two Democratic candidates. Each candidate hopes to come out on top on Super Tuesday because it provides a great deal of validation prior to the party nominations that will come in the summer. While it is still relatively early in the year, candidates can gauge what they need to do to gain and maintain the support of voters.

Whether or not candidates will drop out after the final results of Super Tuesday are confirmed remains to be seen, but the likelihood that Ben Carson will continue his campaign if the results leave him with few supporters is low.

The race remains tight between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders despite Clinton’s recent victories. It may be difficult to predict a clear winner until moments before the Democratic Party officially nominates a candidate. The race for the Republican nomination, however off-balance, is still contentious. Though Trump holds the most popular support, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are still adamantly fighting against him and vying for the top spot, especially after Ted Cruz’s win in Iowa.

It is still hard to say what will come of Super Tuesday, but as it appears now, Clinton and Trump may end in the top spots, which could be a great indicator of what to expect come November.